News out of my home state: Epic Games has been recognised by the North Carolina Technology Association as the state's "Top Industry Driven Technology Company of the Year." I guess that means "the balls" in the industry-driven technology world. The award specifically cited the contribution Unreal Engine 3 has made to the gaming industry at large.

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Watching Atari struggle to stay afloat is like watching a very slow zombie shambling forward through a hail of gunfire. Bits keep falling off, but still it keeps on coming. They post a $US 69.7 million loss, cut their workforce considerably, and have their board of directors severely restructured, but still they struggle onward. Today, the defending soldiers pause to reload their weapons as Infogrames Entertainment shareholders BlueBay High Yield Investments advance the company $10 million in credit to keep the games coming and offices operating during the 2007 holiday season. This is on top of $US 3 million in outstanding loans being bought by Bluebay Asset Management funds. $10 million helps, but the company is still seeking additional financing. I'm patiently waiting for a PayPal donation button to appear on their homepage.

Atari Secures $10 Million For Continued Operations [Gamasutra]

Finally, some uplifting news on the Australian game developer rebate front. Out of a recent meeting this morning between GDAA CEO Greg Bondar and deputy senate leader for the opposition Stephen Conroy, has come the promise that if Labor is elected, Conroy will "establish a high level committee to review the GDAA’s call for a 40% tax rebate for the games industry in Australia".

Okay, it's so-so news. There's no guarantee that anything will happen under a Labor Government - a committee is something you form before a war, not during. However, we know conclusively that nothing will happen if the Coalition is re-elected, and for those hunting desperately for even a foal's chance of a rebate, this is as good as it's going to get.

You can read the full release after the jump.

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EA Sports is a successful brand. Like it, loathe it, it don't matter, their games make so much money each year your thoughts are utterly inconsequential. Thing is, FIFA aside they're a little too...American. Madden, NBA, NCAA, NASCAR...these are great for Americans, and some people outside America, but on this here planet there are 300 million Americans. But over 5 billion people who aren't. They're who EA need to be targeting, says Peter Moore. Presumably because by not targeting them they're missing out on a lot of money:

My biggest concern is that it's a phenomenally powerful brand in North America, but it is very North America-centric. It's red, white and blue. It's "in the game" [utters in deep, American-accented baritone]. It's an American voice. It is for better or worse seen as a United States brand that exports its products to Europe or to Asia or to South America.

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UK-based research types Screen Digest have tallied up every game coming out on the three current-gen consoles this Christmas period. There's loads. More interesting, though, are how many of those games are exclusive to each platform (HINT: not many). Of the Wii's 86 games due between now and December 31, a quarter of them are exclusive (21 or 22, the report doesn't specify). But the 360 and PS3? Well, let's just say their catalogues will be looking... familiar. Only eight of the 360's 47 games will be exclusive to the platform, while the PS3's tally is even lower, with only five of 38 games. Think exclusivity is dead? Bet your arse it is.
Publishers Shifting Significantly to Wii, says Screen Digest [GameDaily]

It's official: Microsoft has just announced that Bungie Studios will be embarking "on a path to become an independent company.

According to Bungie, the developer will become an independent company, but will retain a long-term publishing agreement with Microsoft Game Studios for future Halo titles.

Bungie has long been built on creativity, originality and the freedom to pursue ideas. Microsoft agreed, and rather than stifle our imagination, they decided it was in both our best interests to unleash it. We'll continue to make Xbox 360 games, and we'll continue to make amazing games for MGS. In that regard, nothing has changed. All that has changed is that now Bungie Studios is once again, the property of the folks of Bungie Studios. Microsoft is and will continue to be, a brilliant, inventive and creatively collaborative publishing partner. Practically speaking, nothing has changed and you guys won't see much, if any difference, for a while unless you come to work for us, that is - we're hiring at http://www.bungie.net/inside/jobs.aspx.

Microsoft goes on to say equally innocuous stuff.

"Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in 'Halo' becoming an enduring mainstream hit," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. "While we are supporting Bungie's desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our 'Halo' entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the 'Halo' universe. We look forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through 'Halo'-related titles and new IP created by Bungie."

But what no one touches on or even looks in the direction of is why this is happening. What exactly happened that convinced Microsoft to "unleash" Bungie. I do find it interesting that Bungie uses the whole leash analogy and I suspect that perhaps the key to the whole story is wrapped up in that single word.

Hit the jump for the Msoft press release and stick around for more details when I can scrape them up.

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You know what they say: a fool and his money are easily parted. Especially when there are a bunch of fools sitting together around a boardroom table, convincing each other that virtual worlds are hot, and that they should blow millions investing in them. Which is exactly what's happening! A study by Virtual Worlds Management reckons $US 1 billion has been invested into "virtual worlds" over the past year. And no, they don't mean WoW. They mean Second Life. They also mean the kind of things you see in flash ads, with crudely-drawn avatars and promise you the ability to "chat with friends". You know, the kinds of things you and everyone else ignore because they look like a bag of shit stuffed full of pointy, rusty nails. Money well wasted, gents!
$1 billion invested in virtual worlds in past 12 months - study [Gamesindustry.biz]

We all know Japan hates the 360. We've all got our theories on why, too, but really, they're more like opinions. Few of you reading this are Japanese, even fewer of you make games specifically for the Japanese market. Which makes this GameSpot piece all the more interesting: they asked a whole bunch of Japanese devs just what they think is wrong with the 360.

Soul Calibur IV lead programmer Masaaki Hoshino

In order to succeed in Japan, [Microsoft] needs Japan-created content, not just a lot of foreign games that have been >> localised
Anonymous Ace Combat 6 developer

Japanese players don't want challenging, stressful, difficult games. Japanese players would rather have role-playing games with a slow tempo, where they are led and shown what to do. So, maybe games like Blue Dragon will start to change things. When more of those kind of games come on to the market, then I think more Japanese players will accept the 360.

Anonymous designer

People think [foreign games] are difficult and there's no guidance on how to clear the objectives. Now that has changed, and they are much easier to play, but this bias remains among Japanese gamers.

Infinite Undiscovery director Hiroshi Ogawa

I think in the previous generation that when it was the Xbox versus the PlayStation 2, Microsoft was unable to put out many RPGs. They weren't able to put out the type of games Japanese players really play. And the resistance to 360 may be some holdover from that.

My 2 cents follows: We heard Ryan Payton talking about how Metal Gear Solid 4, one of the biggest titles coming out of Japan, had been completely "westernised". And not just a regular old localisation, everything from its cameras to its controls had taken the Western market into consideration. How many Western titles return the favour?
Spot On: Japanese devs sound off on 360 [GameSpot]

Independent games developers have it hard these days. 2K Australia/2K Boston (formerly Irrational) had to throw their hand in with 2K Games, and Bioware and Pandemic decided to join forces with backing from investment house Elevation Partners. Add in an out-of-the-way locale like Australia, where the Government seems oblivious to the existence of an entire industry, and the thought of firing up your own coding factory looks more insurmountable than two Everests piled on each other.

The best place to get advice? From someone who's done it.

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NCSoft today announced that Carbine Studios is working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game for them. Carbine Studios is made up of 17 former Blizzard employees including the lead and senior developers from the World of Warcraft team.

"This is a dev team made in heaven," said Robert Garriott, CEO for NCsoft's North American business. "This group is as experienced as they come in the area of computer role playing and multiplayer game design. Making successful games is second nature to them. They are a very welcome addition to the NCsoft family. The gaming community should be excited to see what great things come out of Carbine Studios in the coming years."

"NCSoft's established global infrastructure, commitment to their development studios and passion for online gaming makes them an ideal partner," says Carbine co-founder Kevin Beardslee. "In the coming months Carbine Studios will continue to grow and we look forward to bringing many more talented industry professionals into our fold."

I wonder if this could be one of NCSoft's secret Playstation 3 projects?

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